Monthly Archives: March 2017

Like Christmas, Easter, let’s be fair, has become far more of a commercial success than a religious holiday. Families up and down the country will be hunting for chocolate eggs and children with telltale chocolate faces will be shooting crazy-eyed looks at weary parents who are counting down the days until school.

I do love Easter, it signifies new life, Spring is with us, my favourite flowers are daffodils and I love chocolate – what’s not to like. Seems I’m not alone either, a whopping 80m chocolate eggs will be sold in the U.K over Easter.

Here are some more eggcellent Easter facts ( yes, I did say eggcellent).

• Easter occurs on the first Sunday following the full moon. This is why the date changes every year – though it usually falls between 22 March-25 April.

• The largest Easter egg hunt took place at Winter Haven, Florida, USA on 1 April 2007. It consisted of 501,000 eggs with 9,753 children taking part.

• The largest Easter egg was 10.39 metres in height and weighed a staggering 7,200kg. The egg had a circumference of 19.6 metres at its widest part.

• The most expensive Easter egg cost around £25,000 and was made by British business Choccywoccydoodah.

• The largest chocolate bunny was made by Brazilian company Senac-RS, weighing 3,850kg and was made from 6,000 bars of chocolate. It measured 4.1 metres tall and was 1.9 metres wide.

• 48.1 billion Easter eggs and sweets are sold worldwide.

• The first chocolate eggs were made in 1873 by Fry’s in Bristol, England.

• 500 million Cadbury Crème Eggs are made each year globally.

• Decorating Easter eggs dates back to the 13th century where eggs were decorated to symbolise the end of the Lenten period in which eggs were forbidden. They were decorated and consumed as a form of Easter celebration.

• Egg painting originates from a Ukrainian tradition called Pysanka.

• Easter eggs are likely linked to Pagan traditions where the egg, an ancient symbol of new life, is associated with Pagan festivals celebrating spring.

• The Easter bunny first arrived in American in the 1700s with German immigrants. Their children made nests for the Easter Bunny to lay their eggs in and the custom spread.

When I turned 40, I’m pretty sure it was just my body that got the memo. The ‘me’ inside, seemed content to live out the illusion of still being, shall we say, early 30s.

I still gasp in astoundment when the woman I presume to be the same age as me reveals she has no idea of anything pre-1990. Incidentally, when did the 90s become retro?

This was illustrated perfectly last week while explaining to a 20-something the 1980s entertainment sensation, The Crankies. “Yes, so they were husband and wife and she dressed up as a young Boy Scout and….well yes that was about it really.” We both shifted awkwardly. Enough said.

On a serious note, I didn’t think that much about my fertility declining with my advancing years. I was lucky and here she is:

I’ve not been blogging much lately, because, obviously, being so old with two children, I’m knackered. But I’m back and looking forward to adventures with two.